A little shocked I staggered towards my next table, waiting for me was Jean Yves Cassas who was using a Sassanid Persian army that consisted of Cataphracts, Bow Cavalry, Elephants and Light Foot/Cav.
The battlefied ended up being open in the middle but busy along the Sassanid's side. My plan as I was unsure how to fight this army was to have the Gauls advance across the middle as fast as possible while the African Vets protected their flanks. The Numidian foot was to slow the enemy down and take as much bow fire as possible while the Numidian Cav would attempt to get around the flanks. The Elephants were to advance towards the Sassanid Cataphracts on the right while the Gallic Cavalry were to advance forward and try slow the enemy down with Gauls in the terrain to the left in support.
My battle line advanced as quickly as possible to the enemy with the Numidian Cav on either side trying to get past the Sassanid light horse.
On the flanks my Numidian Cav are having difficulty trying to catch the Sassanid light horse. On the right of the battle line the Sassanid Cavalry began to outflank me so the African Vets entered Orb to try and slow the Cavalry down. The Elephants advanced and stopped the Sassanid Cataphracts from being able to charge the Gauls in the open. Further to the left the Gauls dashed forward trapping the Sassanid Bow Cavalry between them and the rough terrain. On the left the Gallic Cavalry were forced to flee when the Cataphracts charged them. In response the African Vets intercepted and pushed the Sassanids back while the Gauls on the far left advanced to the edge of the terrain ready to charge out.
A few turns later and all has changed. On the left the Gauls in the terrain broke under a constant hail of Bow fire and fled. The nearby African Vets had to enter Orb to hang on while the rest of the army tried to surge forward. The Gallic Cavalry seeing the future outcome of all of this decided to run for it. In the centre the Gauls who had pinned the Sassanid Bow Cavalry charged forward and caught their opponents who had try to flee through the terrain. A very short and one sided combat later and they were charging through the terrain. The Elephants realising the Sassanid Cavalry was trying to outflank them decided it was a case of now or never and charged forward. They ended up hitting the Cataphracts and Elephants and managed to draw against the Sassanid Elephants but through prayers to the dark gods of Carthage they managed to break the Sassanid Cataphracts. This allowed the other unit of Gauls to charge on forward towards the safety of the terrain. The Numidian Foot were meanwhile trying to slow down the advance of the Sassanid Cavalry on either side.
Around the flanks the Numidian Cav had finally managed to chase down the Sassanid light horse on the right while a unit had managed to slip past the Sassanids and ended up sacking the camp. The heroic Numidian Cav on the right also managed to chase off the Sassanid light foot. The heroic Elephants finally fell after a rear charge by some Sassanid Cavalry but they had managed to Fragment the Sassanid Elephants in the process and hold up the enemy. The nearby African Vets had remained in Orb and even though under constant bow fire had managed to remain steady. In the centre the Gauls had pushed deep into the Sassanid starting position and prepared defensive positions. On the left the African Vets had finally collasped after a combined Sassanid Cataphract and Cavalry charge. Their sacrifice had given time for the Gallic Cavalry and the other African Vets to escape the area.
Time was called and adding up the points I was suprised to learn a had a winning draw. Having inflicted 10 points for the loss of 6. This meant that somehow I had clawed my way into 2nd position!!!
Good-
1-Use of Elephants was good if not lucky.
2-The forward charge by the Gauls was a good idea.
3-Using the African Vets in Orb to slow down the enemy flanking moves.
Bad-
1-I used the Gauls to the left poorly and allowed them to get shoot to the point of routing.
2-It took a while to catch the Sassanid light horse and 1 unit never got caught.
Overall I had an enjoyable couple of days and played 4 different armies.
